’One car’ ownership proposal criticised

HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội traffic police’s proposal to allow Hanoians to own only one car and one registration plate interferes with the citizens’ right to own property.

This was said by Nguyễn Thanh Tú, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Civil and Economic Law Department at a press conference held on Monday in Hà Nội, reported the Công an nhân dân (People’s Police) online newspaper.

The proposal, put forth to tackle the capital’s worsening traffic situation, was very controversial, Tú said.

"To fix the traffic congestion problem, we need a set of solutions, from improving our transport infrastructure to tightening traffic rules," Tú said.

To control the rise in purchases of vehicles for personal use, the authority should impose higher tax on the second car, instead of limiting people from owning more than one car, he suggested.

The controversial proposal to limit people from owning more than one vehicle was made last Friday by Colonel Đào Vịnh Thắng, head of Hà Nội Traffic Police Office. Under the proposal, a citizen could own only one car and would be issued only one registration plate. If the owner wanted to sell the old car and buy another one, he or she would have to use the same registration plate.

Thắng said he came up with the proposal as the city’s transport infrastructure was under intense pressure, with the number of newly registered vehicles rising by 16,000 bikes and 500 cars every month.

It is estimated that Hà Nội now has 6 million motorbikes, 600,000 cars and 350,000 electric scooters. — VNS